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Learning Express Toys is more than just a toy franchise, we also seek to provide useful tips and advice to parents. Our goal is to help educate our community and be a resource by providing relevant information on a variety of parenting topics. Read what our mom blogger has to say about the latest parenting trends, educational toys, child safety, and so much more!

Growing up in Southern California, I never understood the concept of spring-cleaning. Spring was usually sunny and in the low 70s, much like the winter that came right before it. But now that I live in the Midwest, I’m at the mercy of the four seasons in all their glory and all their fury. After the mud, salt, and grime of a tough winter is washed away outside, I understand the strong urge people have to get organized and start fresh inside as well.

And when I think of getting organized, there is one aspect of my space and life that is in the most disarray: the back door. More specifically, I mean getting out the back door. With a one, three, and four year-old, getting out the door in the morning is by far my biggest challenge of the day.

I interviewed a slew of moms and dads and begged them to divulge their best tips for getting their crew out. Here are some simple tips and tricks to make leaving the house a cinch!

1. Set clear expectations ahead of time. For example, during breakfast, remind your child that after she eats you expect her to wash her hands, gather her lunchbox and backpack, and put on her shoes and coat. If your child meets these expectations, offer descriptive praise to reinforce the good behavior, ie: “Great job following mommy’s directions the first time and getting yourself ready for school!”

2.Keep all socks and shoes organized by the back door. This way no one has any reason to wander back through the house and be distracted by what they find along the way.

3.Set an alarm for 10 minutes before you need to be out the door. When the alarm goes off, it will be the alarm—not you—nagging the kids to hurry up.

4.Plan as much as possible the night before. Check your calendar for the coming day and see what you need to prepare. Do you need to pack lunch? Bring show-n-tell? Check the forecast and set out weather-related items by the back door (i.e. coats and scarves in winter and sunscreen and baseball caps in summer).

5. Pack the car while the kids get ready. If you can pack the car before it’s time for everyone to leave, you’ll have more free-arm space to move them along. One mom quickly throws everything into the car while her kids are eating breakfast, and finds there are a lot fewer balls in the air when it’s time to make an exit.

6. Stay with your kids as they walk from house to car. Even if the car is only two feet from your back door or in an attached garage, make sure to lead the way. One dad noted that he had to “micromanage” his two sons’ 10-foot walk from their stoop to their Suburban, lest the rascals get distracted in the nearby plants and mud.

But most importantly, be consistent. The more you stick to the plan the easier it will become for everyone to adjust over time (including you). Here’s to cleaning up the messiest part of my day! Welcome, glorious spring.

February vacation is fast approaching and parents are beginning to prep for a week filled with family fun. Whether you are jetting off to a tropical paradise, taking a road trip to visit family and friends, or tucking in to a relaxing staycation at home, it’s nice to have some tricks up your sleeve that will keep the little ones happy and entertained.

To ensure that the whole family has an enjoyable and stress-free vacation, stock up on some new games, crafts, and activities that the kids can play with while you travel from point A to point B. Spending some quality time around the house instead? Adding fresh toys to your collection will bring some extra excitement to your regular routine.

Learning Express Toys has the perfect selection of travel toys and vacation activities for your family. Create a kid-friendly goodie bag to keep in your carry-on, backseat, or closet to surprise the kids if they get restless. Check out these 6 great products available at your neighborhood Learning Express Toy store:

You’ll never have to hear the words “Are we there yet?” again. Perfect for young travelers, the 100 Things for Little Children to Do on a Trip set comes with 52 activity cards. Each card provides kids with engaging challenges including puzzles, games, coloring pictures, and eye-spy quizzes. Kids can write and draw directly on the cards with the included erasable marker, eliminating the need for extra paper and enabling them to re-use the cards hundreds of times!

Little artists will love creating fanciful designs on-the-go with the Travel Spirograph studio. Complete with a built-in design ring, work surface, storage compartment, paper, and drawing supplies, this portable set fits easily in any storage compartment or bag. Keep this kit handy for plane rides, train travel, or in the car as you run errands and go on day trips with the kids.

Fidgety Block

Mom and Dad also deserve some distraction while traveling or staying home with the kids during vacation week. Fidgety Block is the perfect toy for any parent that’s feeling stressed or anxious. As the kids try your patience, just click, glide, flip, breathe, roll and spin this six sided block to melt your stress away. If one day you cannot locate your Fidgety Block, look no further than your spouse or kids as they have discovered this can’t put it down toy. You can always find a supply of Fidgety Blocks in array of colors for each member of the family at your neighborhood Learning Express Toy Store.

Can you Kanoodle? This brain-twisting solitaire game is pocket-sized for traveling convenience. The set includes 12 colorful puzzle pieces and a turntable board that doubles as a carrying case. Kids can create complex 2D puzzles and 3D pyramids based off of 48 challenging designs featured in the included booklet. Children can play on their own or solicit the help of friends and siblings to tackle varying levels of play.

Boogie Boards

The Boogie Board Jot 8.5 and 4.5 are great for writing and doodling at home, in the car or on a plane. If your child loves their creations, they can save them with the free Jot app for future enjoyment. The Boogie Board Play N’ Trace and Scribble N’ Play are the perfect occupiers for younger children. The Play N’ Trace see-through writing surface provides hours of fun tracing pictures, words, or 3D objects. The Scribble N’ Play features color burst providing brightly colored rainbow pictures and doodles. These boogie boards are the perfect travel companion for any child.

Personalized Lap Tray and Clip Case

Give your kids the ideal surfaces for drawing, writing, and playing with colorful Lap Trays and Clip Cases from Learning Express Toys. The Lap Tray creates the perfect play area for long road trips and floor-time fun. Place books, snacks, drawing tools, and more in the deep side pockets and spread out your activities and food on the flat, top surface. Don’t have room on your lap? Try a Clip Case! Store papers and accessories inside the case and clip your works of art on the front for a stable drawing canvas. Learning Express Toy Experts will even personalize the trays and cases with your child’s name and fun designs completely free of charge!

No matter whether you’re lounging pool-side or on the couch, your family will appreciate these fun games and activities.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and with all the Pinteresting parents out there, you can bet that this year’s school Valentines will be more creative, unique, and punnier than ever. V-Day is typically a day filled with candy and sweet treats, but in today’s health-conscious society, parents are trying to find healthy alternatives for their kids. So how do you enhance the holiday excitement while cutting out the candy? Here are 6 valentine gift ideas that will help you keep up with the pack and swap out some sweets at the same time!

1. Plush Craft Heart Pillow
Forget paint-by-numbers, this fun and easy craft lets kids punch rainbow colored fabrics into corresponding number slots to create a pillow full of pizazz! This is a great gift idea for kids ages 5 and up. Your little Romeo or Juliet might even want to give their finished product to a special someone.

2. Bee Mine Valentine
This adorable Valentine from Crafty Morning is the bee's knees! Follow the easy instructions and have your busy little bees help cut out the heart shapes and create the most Beeautiful Valentine. You can add a decorative pencil to serve as a Valentine goody. Get creative with your sayings—in addition to Bee Mine, try “What's Buzzin", "My Honey" "Bee your friend” and "Beeautiful”!

3. Out of This World Valentine
This galactic gift from Zakka Life is perfectly gender-neutral and packed with fun. You and your space pioneers can work together to explore your creative sides. Design these unique cards using black construction paper, silver pen, and bouncy balls. Add space-themed sayings like “I love you to the moon and back”, “I’m stuck to you like gravity”, “you are my sunshine”, and “you’ve got me seeing stars”!

4. Sticky Mosaics Heart Box kit
Give your sweetheart a keepsake craft that is a blast to decorate. The Sticky Mosaics heart Box kit comes with over 500 glittering jewels. Kids five and up will love matching the jewels by number to reveal a beautifully bedazzled box that is perfect for storing jewelry and Valentine’s cards.

5. You Rule Valentine
Rule the school this Valentine’s Day with these vintage-inspired cards from Relocated Living. This craft is as easy as 1, 2, 3! Have your star pupil help you pick out rulers from an office supply store—they can be old-fashioned wooden rulers, clear, or colorful. Print out valentine messages like “You Rule”, “You’re growing on me”, and “our friendship is off the meter” on red construction paper and create slits on either side to slide the ruler through. Add stickers or hearts for a bit of Valentine’s flair.

6. Craft-Tastic String Art Kit
Let your littlest sweetheart pull on your heart strings this Valentine’s Day. This kit provides all the materials to create a beautiful multi-colored string art heart and two other fun designs. Any Mother, Father, Grandparent or relative would be honored to hang these colorful masterpieces in their home.